


When a Boy Wishes to be a Princess

by TheBigLoserQueen



Series: Office AU [157]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Arguing, Child, Children, Clothing, Dress Up, Dresses, Family, Gen, Gender Issues, Genderbending, Het, Human, Married Couple, Social Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-16
Updated: 2015-09-16
Packaged: 2018-04-21 01:18:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4809419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBigLoserQueen/pseuds/TheBigLoserQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Diskdrive wants a Halloween costume Soundwave was not expecting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When a Boy Wishes to be a Princess

Soundwave looked down at Diskdrive, who was obviously excited to be here. Well, she supposed any four-year-old would be excited about picking out their first Halloween costume. Her other sons were like that when they got to finally pick out first their first costume…   
  
Holding her son by the hand, she walked him up the first isle of children’s costumes. “You can pick out any costume you like.”  
  
Diskdrive nodded, looking at all the available costumes. And since it was a weekend, there were plenty of other parents with their children looking for costumes as well. Of course, unlike the other children who were all rowdy and screaming about their costumes, Diskdrive just quietly browsed the costume choices.  
  
She had to smile a little at that. Diskdrive was a lot like Ravage; very quiet and calm. She can’t recall having any behavioral problems with her oldest when he was a child. And so far, she wasn’t having any with Diskdrive.  
  
“See anything you like?” she asked him as he stopped in front of a selection of boy pirate costumes.  
  
She watched as his eyes scanned up and down the racks, but he made a face when he couldn’t find one he wanted. She patted his head.  
  
“You don’t have to get anything today.”  
  
“I know.” But he didn’t say anymore, stepping away from the pirate costumes and continuing down into the next row.  
  
Soundwave followed him. “Is there a superhero you want to be?”  
  
He shook his head.  
  
“No Power Rangers or Ninja Turtles?”  
  
“No – Power Rangers are stupid and over-the-top and the Ninja Turtle show doesn’t make sense. The turtles would have been dead if they ate poisonous chemicals.”  
  
She couldn’t help but to chuckle a bit at that. Diskdrive was much smarter than his age, using rather rational reason and logic to make his decisions. Primus, he was already reading dictionaries… and his reasoning for that was so he would be “smarter like Mommy and Dad.”   
  
Suddenly, a girl wearing a Snow White costume came rushing down the isle past the two of them. She ran toward her mother. “Mommy! Mommy, I want this one!”  
  
The mother laughed. “Are you sure?”  
  
“Yes!”  
  
“All right – let’s go buy it then!”  
  
The girl cheered, obviously happy that she was getting the costume she wanted. It vaguely reminded Soundwave of how excited the twins were when they got their first costume. She glanced down at Diskdrive, who just seemed to be staring at the girl as she and mother went to go purchase the Snow White gown.   
  
She titled her head. Did he find the girl to be pretty? Primus, his first double-take at the age of four… Well, those were definitely Bombrush’s genes. Perverted man.  
  
“Diskdrive?”  
  
He blinked and looked up at her. “Yes?”  
  
“Is something wrong?”  
  
“… No.”  
  
Soundwave caught the hesitation, but said nothing. She knew that Diskdrive wasn’t one to be pushed for answers. He liked to keep things to himself and once he was comfortable enough, he would reveal what was bothering him.   
  
They went up and down the isles for children’s costumes for about twenty minutes, but Diskdrive never voiced out that he wanted to try any of them on. When she suggested a costume from time to time, he turned it down, saying that it wasn’t what he wanted to wear.  
  
Finally, once they reached the end of the boy’s costumes, Soundwave gave a small sigh and kneeled down in front of her son. The boy said nothing when she put her hands on his shoulders, making him look at her.  
  
“Diskdrive. Is there anything you  _do_  want to be?”  
  
Diskdrive bit his bottom lip. Then he opened his mouth, only to quickly close it again.  
  
Soundwave’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. She knew the boy was trying to fool her, but she was the Communications Manager of Decepticon Enterprise –  _nothing_  got by her. And her son wasn’t an exception. By his gestures and hesitation in his action, she knew he had a costume in mind. He just wouldn’t tell her.   
  
“Diskdrive. What do you want to be?”  
  
The boy said nothing. He knew what he wanted to be, but… He didn’t think he should say it. Not a single boy in the store was picking out the kind of costume he wanted to wear, which must have meant that he wasn’t supposed to wear it… right?   
  
“Diskdrive. Tell me – what costume do you want to wear?”  
  
It didn’t seem like Soundwave was going to stop asking him. And he didn’t want to be a liar… Both she and Bombrush always said that it was wrong to lie. He wasn’t a bad boy. He couldn’t lie to her… It would only make her mad.  
  
But he couldn’t say it. Instead, he simply looked down and pointed to the costume he wanted, Soundwave looking over her shoulder and spotting to what the boy was pointing at.   
  
Her eyes widened when she saw what he wanted to wear. It was… a princess gown. The little girl dress of Tiana’s from that Disney movie  _The Princess and the Frog._  Diskdrive wanted to wear that? That… was for girls though.  
  
She slowly turned back to her son. “Diskdrive… That’s… a girl costume.”  
  
“I want to be Tiana…” he said softly as he looked down at his shoes. “That was one of my favorite movies… And she was my favorite character… so I want to be her.”   
  
Soundwave looked back at the girl’s costume again. Slowly, she stood up and walked over to it. Glancing around, she could see that other mothers had overheard what her son wanted because they were eyeing the boy and her as she looked over the costume. Well, girls wore boy costumes… Like Supergirl and Spider-girl and such… It should have been all right for him to wear this…  
  
But this was a dress. This was… not something a boy was supposed to wear. Though, there was a time where women were not supposed to wear pants and pretty much almost every woman in this store was currently wearing them. Now it was twenty-first century… Why couldn’t a boy wear a dress?   
  
Well… she didn’t want her son to be bullied. No one wanted that for their child. She certainly didn’t… but if she let him have this, he would be made fun of. He would be mocked because people could be so closed-minded.   
  
Did that give her a right to deny her child what he wanted though? He wanted to wear this… It was plainly obvious. She glanced at the boy, who had now stepped up beside her and was holding onto her sweater. Primus, he really wanted this costume…    
  
“Excuse me, Miss?”  
  
Soundwave looked up from the package and turned around, seeing another mother standing behind her with her two boys and little girl. The two boys – twins – were both holding Firemen costumes while the girl didn’t have one at all.  
  
“Oh,” she said, looking down at the one she was holding. “I apologize. Did your daughter wish to try this one on?”   
  
“No…” She glanced at Diskdrive before looking back up at Soundwave. “How old is your son?”  
  
“Four.”   
  
“And… he wants you to buy this?” She gestured to the princess costume.   
  
Soundwave eyed the woman for a few moments before slowly nodding her head. “He says he wants to be Tiana.”    
  
The other mother made a face and shook her head.   
  
Soundwave raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"  
  
"You see..." The woman paused for a moment, looking down at Diskdrive for a moment before looking back to Soundwave. "It's just not right for him to be wearing that." She looked down at Soundwave's son and addressed him. "Boys need to wear boy costumes."   
  
"But I want to wear this one." He pointed to the girl's costume.   
  
"Yes, but princess costumes are for girls. Not boys. Boys..." She pushed her two sons in front of her. "Boys wear boy costumes. Like policemen and army men. Superheroes. Don't you want to be a superhero?"  
  
"Girls can be superheroes too..." Diskdrive muttered. "Like Batgirl. And there are lots of women in the police force and the army. Like my brother's friend. She's a policewoman... Police and army costumes aren't just for boys."  
  
The woman cleared her throat, obviously not expecting the boy to say that. Soundwave gave a small smirk to that, reaching down and rubbing Diskdrive's shoulder. Seeing the woman stumble a bit, she placed the costume back down on the rack and moved to walk away, but the woman found her voice once more and started again, now address her.  
  
"He shouldn't be a princess. I mean... Sure, it may seem like a phase, but for all you know, it's not and it's best to just nip it in the butt now."  
  
Soundwave raised an eyebrow. "Nip it? What are you talking about?"  
  
"This kind of girlish behavior in a boy could lead him... down a different path-"  
  
"Are you saying because my son wants to wear a dress he will turn out to be gay when he's older?"  
  
"No one's saying that, but-"  
  
"It is clearly what you are implying," Soundwave said, narrowing her eyes at the other. She knew everyone had an opinion, but that didn't mean she had to agree with it. And she certainly wasn't just going to let this woman say anything insulting without saying something back herself. "And you make it sound like it's a bad thing. So what if he turns out to be a homosexual? It doesn't matter - I can't change that. For all you know, he could grow up to be a heterosexual who simply likes to wear dresses."   
  
She looked down at her son, who just seemed confused by the language she was using. He also looked a bit frightened since he had never seen Soundwave this way. Great. She was making a scene. Damn it, this was not how she wanted things to be-  
  
"Ma'am, this woman's just concerned for your son."  
  
Oh great... Another one. Soundwave looked over to see a blonde woman with her daughter - who was holding onto a Robin Girl costume - join the brunette, Soundwave taking a hold of Diskdrive's hand. She needed to remain calm. She wasn't about to become like she did at work when people tried to fight her. Not while her son was here.   
  
"I know you want to make him happy, but a boy can't wear a dress," she stated softly. Soundwave could tell she was trying to act like she was only trying to be nice, but it was only making Soundwave angrier. "He'll be bullied and made fun of. Girls wear dresses... And surely you know how cruel kids can be nowadays-"  
  
"Yes, because their bigoted parents teach them that they need to be a certain way and anyone who is different is strange, thus prompting them to bully other. No one is born mean. Their parents play a role in it."  
  
The brunette turned red, now getting angry herself. "We're only trying to help. Your son can't be a princess - he's a boy!"  
  
"And?" She gestured to the blonde woman's daughter. "Her daughter picked out a Robin costume. And as limited as my knowledge is about comics, my sons had told me that there was never a 'Robin Girl' in the comics. Basically, she'll be wearing a boy costume that was simply made for a girl."  
  
"Yes, but it is still a girl costume and-"  
  
"And it's okay." Soundwave shook her head. "Did you know that in fifties, if a woman wore pants, she was considered to be less feminine? That if a man raised children alone, he was less manly? That if a woman wanted to work, she was selfish for wanting to focus on herself and no children? That if a man wanted to take up sewing, he was considered to be girlish? These were enforced gender roles of that time period."  
  
"Well, this isn't the fifties-"  
  
"No. It's the twenty-first century. And if my son wants to be a princess from his favorite Disney movie, then he can be a princess from his favorite Disney movie."   
  
She had had enough. This was completely ridiculous. A girl could dress up like a boy, but a boy couldn't dress up like a girl? That was a double-standard she wasn't about to tolerate. And she would never tolerate it, especially if her son wanted to defy that standard.  
  
She turned to him and pointed to the costume. "Do you want to be a princess, Diskdrive?"  
  
He said nothing, only looking up at her with wide eyes.  
  
"Diskdrive," she repeated, this time in a much gentler tone as she realized she was probably scaring the boy. "Do you want to be Tiana?"  
  
Diskdrive glanced at the costume, then back at the two women staring at him, and then at his mother. She just continued to point at that costume he truly wanted, the one he had been wanting to be since he had seen that movie... He always wanted to be like Tiana. She was so... cool. She reminded him of his mommy, saying what she felt and everything... He wanted to be like that too.  
  
"I... I want to be Tiana."  
  
That was all Soundwave needed to hear. She reached over and snatched the costume off the rack. Then she took the child's hand and walked down to the register, leaving the two women and their children behind and bewildered.

* * *

Bombrush perked up from his paper when he heard the front door slam. He was surprised to see Soundwave and Diskdrive walk through the front door and into the living room, Diskdrive clutching onto the bag that held his costume. "Soundwave? You're home already? I thought you had errands to run."  
  
"I wanted to take Diskdrive home first," she said.  
  
He nodded, looking to his son and giving a small smile. "So, you got a costume?" When the boy nodded, he chuckled. "What did you get?"  
  
Diskdrive didn't answer, clutching the bag even tighter.  
  
Soundwave sighed and patted the boy's head. "Go upstairs for a moment, okay?"  
  
Bombrush blinked when the boy only nodded, running as fast as he could up to his room. He then looked to Soundwave, who only gave a tired sigh and rubbed her eyes, sitting down next to her husband. The older man placed his paper on the side table, moving himself to look at his wife better.  
  
"Soundwave, what's wrong?"  
  
"I had a small altercation with two women at the store."  
  
His eyes widened. Soundwave got into an argument? "What happened?"  
  
"Diskdrive... picked out a costume that they didn't think was appropriate for a boy."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"He wanted to be Tiana. From The Princess and the Frog."   
  
He blinked. Diskdrive... wanted to Princess Tiana? Primus, he knew the boy loved the movie - he wore out the DVD, he loved it so much - but he never would have guessed that he wanted to be Tiana for Halloween... He knew that Diskdrive's favorite character in that movie was her too, but... Wow.  
  
He just didn't know what to think. He had never thought about what he would do or think if his son wanted to be a princess and wear a dress for Halloween. He wasn't against it... He actually had an old co-worker whose twin daughter and son dressed up as a prince and princess, respectively. But those children weren't his children.   
  
But... Diskdrive was his son. And he would support and love his son no matter what. If he wanted to wear a dress... Then he could wear a dress.   
  
Still, he was worried about what had happened with those two women. Was Diskdrive all right? Did those women say anything to hurt him? To hurt Soundwave?  
  
"How bad did things get?"  
  
"It was just an argument. They simply said that boys shouldn't wear girl clothes because he would be bullied and I told them it was due to enforced gender roles that made children into bullies... Then we bought him the costume and left."  
  
He let out a small sigh of relief. Well, it wasn't as bad as he had feared. Besides, he had seen Soundwave get much angrier at work. He could still remember the incident where she had slapped that racist and sexist CEO across the face and screamed at him to get out and that Decepticon Enterprise would never do business with him. He was glad to see that it hadn't been as bad as he first thought.  
  
"I wish I had been there with you two."  
  
She blinked, looking up at him and eyes widening when he pecked her lips.   
  
"I wanted to be there to stand by Diskdrive's choice. I wanted to support him... not only as a father, but as another man."  
  
Soundwave let the words process for a moment, but when she understood, she gave a small smile and kissed his cheek. "I'm sure Diskdrive would be happy to know that."  
  
He chuckled, pulling her into his lap. "Of course..." He buried his face into her neck. "I would have liked to have been there to see you all authoritative. You know how much it turns me on seeing you angry."    
  
Soundwave frowned and rolled her eyes. It only made Bombrush chuckle harder, planting soft kisses all across her face. But then they both heard little feet on the staircase, making them both look over. Their eyes both widened when they saw that the boy had put down the costume and was now huddle in the middle of the staircase.    
  
“Diskdrive?” Soundwave said, moving herself from her husband’s arms.   
  
The boy bit his bottom lip and slowly made his way down to the bottom of the staircase. He looked back at his parents, who just looked back at him, the boy gripping the dress tightly as he waited for his parents to speak.  
  
“So… That’s your costume?” Bombrush asked gently.   
  
Diskdrive only nodded.  
  
The older man said nothing for a few moments. Instead, he simply stood up and walked over to the boy, who seemed nervous that his father was coming toward him. He thought about running up the stairs, but his legs wouldn’t move as Bombrush kneeled down in front of him.   
  
Then a hand stretched out to him, making him tense up as he looked down at his feet, waiting for him to become angered.   
  
Instead, the merely reached behind him and pulled the zipper for the costume all the way up. Diskdrive blinked and looked up at Bombrush, who just smiled as he fixed up the dress on the young boy.  
  
“There,” he said, patting his head. “Now that it’s all fixed, I can wholeheartedly say you make a handsome princess.”   
  
Diskdrive said nothing, eyes wide as Bombrush suddenly picked him up. The older man chuckled as Soundwave came over to the two, smiling as she patted Diskdrive’s head. “I suppose we need to go and get you accessories later.”  
  
“Y-Yeah…” Diskdrive murmured, giving a small, shy smile as he snuggled into his father’s chest. “I want a tiara like Tiana had.”  
  
“Then we’ll get you one.” Bombrush kissed the boy’s hair.   
  
Diskdrive only smiled, snuggling into his father’s warm embrace as his mother continued to pat his head. He thought his parents would make fun of him if he wanted he told them what he wanted to be for Halloween.   
  
But he had thought wrong, and he was happy he had.


End file.
